Absence
by Rosethorn2
Summary: True love is supposed to last forever...So a little thing like amnesia isn't going to stop it-right? (Duo Maxwell)


**Notes:** I own too much sheet music. This came from playing the intro to _Once Upon a December_ (you'll see the correlation later) one too many times…Speaking of which, I'm pleased to announce that I can now do the music-box introduction from memory—and I'm _still_ not able to play the rest of the song _with_ the sheet music, dammit! ::sweatdrops:: Ok…I'm done ranting now.

Extra note: As another bit of inspiration, I've always read fanfics where _Duo_ loses his memory…what if it were Heero?

**Warnings:** Shounen ai (read: two guys hugging/making out/etc). If this grosses you out, go away. Also, this fanfic is an AU. Therefore, there will be OOC-ness, though I'll try to keep it mild…

**Pairings:** 1&2, 3&4, 5&R…Heero and Duo are already established (yes, I feel the need to explain this), so I'll be delving further into the workings of their relationship. Trowa and Quatre are _not_ established (but they are most _definitely_ interested in one another ::wink::), so I'll be putting them together. Wufei and Relena are already together too, and so I'll be exploring that relationship as well.

**Disclaimer:** Don't own it.

Absence  
By Rosethorn

Chapter 1: Silver Storm

It had been a long day at Bryston U, and all Duo had wanted to do was settle down for a much-deserved, _long_ nap once he got home. Instead, he found himself hosting a mini study session with his five friends Heero, Quatre, Trowa, Wufei, and Relena. Ordinarily, he wouldn't have minded this session, but he was so _tired_. Hell, he didn't even want to see _Heero_, and that in itself was a rarity. His boyfriend, though quiet and somewhat stoic—okay, _very_ stoic—always knew _exactly_ what to say to make the stress from his engineering class dissipate—the same engineering class that was currently giving him a rather large knot in his neck. He massaged it absently, while watching two of the set carefully dance around the fact that they were sitting rather close to each other.

It was funny really. Quatre and Trowa had been doing the dance since kindergarten, Duo was certain. Though it might have been hard to do at kindergarten as Quatre was being tutored privately at that point and Trowa was in foster care and—_anyways_, the instant attraction had been there since they first met. Which, when Duo thought about it, had been about the middle of sixth grade. Maybe the beginning of seventh. It wasn't too long after he had met Heero. Granted, meeting Heero and Trowa at the same time could possibly be related to the fact that they were both adopted by the same family along with Trowa's older sister Catherine—but that was just a guess. The last two members joined up in high school. Wufei had just moved from China in disgrace for refusing—much to Duo's astonishment—an arranged marriage. The astonishment came from the fact that arranged marriages were still being _created_, not the fact that Wufei refused.

In any rate, the then-16 Wufei had fallen ponytail over boot for the head of the spirit squad, Relena Dorlan-Peacecraft. Relena, though holding a rather high status, was an absolute sweetheart, though she could sometimes be a bit of a snob. Fortunately for Wufei, she had fallen pom-pom over sneaker for him. They had gotten together at the beginning of senior year, and as of junior year of college, they were still going strong—though Duo wondered when, if ever, Wufei was going to work up the courage to ask The Question. After being dragged to three malls—containing at least five jewelry stores per mall—and seven other _independent_ jewelers, he considered it Wufei's duty to propose to the girl—preferably _before_ they were all in walkers! Speaking of the dynamic duo…

"Oi! I'd appreciate a cease-fire to all making-out cessions in my car, if you will!" Duo ordered sternly, giving the pair in the backseat a mischievous look. "As it is a _rental_ I'd rather not traumatize the poor people working for the company by finding stains of rather questionable fluids on the seats." As he had hoped, Wufei turned bright red.

"Maxwell!!" he exclaimed. "If any fluids _were_ to appear in this car caused by something _other_ than rain or beverages, I'd say there's a good chance it'd be you and your boyfriend up there!" Duo's eyebrows rose, and his eyes widened innocently. He looked at said boyfriend with the expression and, to his great amusement, found Heero mirroring it. Relena and Quatre both started laughing, while Trowa looked on—though there was a faint smile on his face. Wufei, seeing the pair in front and watching his girlfriend laughing hysterically, threw up his hands in disgust. Duo, seeing that he had won that round, moved onto a different target.

"Oh, and Cat? Tro? Same rules apply!" he said cheerfully, pretending not to notice the laughter that had turned to choking, nor the rather nasty looks directed his way by one green eye. Quatre was busy trying to regain his breath from choking from the statement, and he started to lean on Trowa to keep him upright. Trowa, of course, started to blush, though faintly. Relena at that point was fighting for air of her own, but only because she was laughing so hard.

"Don't wet yourself," Heero cautioned, face set into a total deadpan. That was enough to send the rest of the car into fits of laughter. At one point, Duo had to pull off the road because he was laughing so hard. Heero, the ever-concerned boyfriend graciously offered to drive. Duo, very graciously told him no.

"Hell no, Heero! I'm not _that_ ill!" Heero looked mildly affronted at the attack on his driving skills. Duo quickly assured him that he would let Heero drive—after Heero turned 87 and was too feeble to press his foot on the pedal that hard. _Standard_ cars—unlike the racecars Heero was used to driving—only went up to speeds of 75 or 80 for sustained periods of time, before the engine blew. Heero had managed to put Duo's wonderful Honda Civic (though Duo was still wondering _how_ his boyfriend had done it) in speeds of 100 miles per hour. Hence why the car was currently in the shop. Duo told Heero afterwards that his boyfriend made enough racing, he could pay for the repairs and also buy himself his _own_ car—to which Heero had given him a puzzled look and informed Duo that since they were living together and going to school together, having two cars was not efficient. Duo had merely sighed before starting dinner. And speaking of food…

"Oooooh!! Jack in the Box!!" Duo exclaimed, turning the car into the parking lot. "Don't know about you guys, but I'm _hungry_!" There was a murmur of assent among all the passengers, and Duo cheerfully informed everyone that he'd pay—though he was expecting some really _spectacular_ gifts on his birthday in four days. He did mention it was his birthday in four days, right? Ah good. Didn't want to be remiss about mentioning it. Driving up to the drive-through window, Duo didn't even need to glance at the menu. He calmly informed the lady on the intercom that he'd have three sourdough Jack meals—one with a diet Coke, one with regular Coke, and one with water—a large salad with no dressing, eggs, or meat (Quatre was a vegan)—and a medium water to accompany—one Jumbo Jack meal with a Mr. Pibb—and, finally, one Jumbo Jack with the—were the pumpkin shakes available? They were? One medium pumpkin shake. Oh! And two orders of curly fries. Digging out his wallet, Duo drove up to the next window, collected and paid for the food, and made his merry way back to the apartment he and Heero shared, while his boyfriend guarded the food—Duo _really_ disliked having to worry about food getting on his clothes or body when he and Heero would…better let that thought stop there.

Upon arriving at the apartment, the six went inside and proceeded to divide the food. To Heero went the sourdough Jack with water, to Trowa the sourdough Jack with diet Coke, and to Relena, the sourdough Jack with regular Coke. The Jumbo Jack _meal_ went to Wufei, while Duo took the Jumbo Jack and shake. Quatre, blanching at the amount of meat at the table, went into the kitchen with his salad and pulled out some teriyaki-flavored tofu. He also pulled out some Rice Dream while he was at it because he knew that Trowa would end up drinking the water. Duo had once reflected that it showed when he had friends as close as Trowa, Relena, and Wufei were. He carried all of Quatre's vegan supplies, Trowa's diet sodas and sugar-free candy bars (as the acrobat was diabetic), Relena's gummy bears, gummy worms, candy blocks, etc. etc., and Wufei's…well, Wufei kind of grazed off of whatever was in the 'fridge at the time.

After pigging out on their junk food—Quatre's junk food being the teriyaki tofu (which Duo politely declined to sampling)—they began working on various assignments, though all of them eventually found their way to their Russian history textbooks (it being one of the few classes they all shared). They had managed to work their way to World War I, and the Revolution when Duo stretched and glanced at the clock.

"Aw, man! 11:46! Don't know 'bout you guys, but I'm _bushed_!" he said, yawning. Quatre, who was trying his hardest not to fall asleep on top of Trowa—who, coincidentally, was trying not to fall asleep on top of Quatre—nodded his agreement sleepily. He nudged Wufei awake, who in turn nudged his girlfriend awake. Relena groaned a bit before waking up. She looked up to see Wufei's face very close to hers, and screamed. Duo fell off his perch on the arm of the sofa laughing. Wufei merely winced and reached down to lend Relena a hand up.

"Why do you persist in not using your glasses or contacts, woman?" he asked tiredly, pinching the bridge of his nose. She glared blearily at him.

"Because they make my eyes hurt more," she replied. Wufei sighed.

"I know, love, but you're damn near legally blind without either," he responded. Relena, still glaring, reluctantly took his hand and eased herself up. Duo, who had gotten up on his own merits gave his boyfriend a baleful look.

"See how Wuffie-kins helps her up? Why can't _you_ be that courteous for _me_?" he whined. Heero merely stared at him. Then his mouth quirked up in one corner, causing Duo to regret his question. His boyfriend quickly stood, knocked Duo backwards on the floor, and offered a hand down, eyebrow raised. Duo glared at him before grabbing his hand. He used the momentum to his advantage and started kissing Heero once he was all the way off the floor, ignoring Wufei's gagging noises and winking at Relena's catcalls. He looked up at his lover's face. Noting the heat in Heero's blue eyes, Duo decided that it was time for everyone to leave. After ushering them all out to his car, Duo pulled Heero in for one more kiss, before starting the engine.

Knowing how tired he was, Duo was three times as careful to be sure that they wouldn't wrap themselves around a tree. As they neared the intersection by the college parking lot, the light changed from yellow to red, causing all the passengers (as well as the driver) to groan. After what seemed like forever, the light turned green, and Duo drove his car out to the middle of the intersection—only to have it die in the middle. Frowning, he tried to start it again, only to find the vehicle unresponsive.

"Duo…" The man in question turned to his boyfriend, an eyebrow raised. "Did you forget to gas up again?" Heero drawled. Duo glanced down at the meters on the car and sure enough, he had forgotten to gas the car. Sighing, he resigned himself to pushing the car over to the shoulder before walking a block to the nearest gas station. Thank heavens it was late enough that there weren't that many cars on the road. Just when he was about to get out of the car, Duo found himself pulled roughly back in by Heero, who immediately yelled for everyone to get down. The last thing Duo saw before it all turned black was a pair of headlights—headed straight towards them.

oOOo()oOOo

"What is that damn beeping noise?" was the first thought in Duo's head as he began to awake again. "Shit it hurts!" being the second. Carefully cracking one eye open, he was greeted by the sight of…a whole lot of white. White walls, white light, white—oh! _Blue_ curtains. Nope, must not be heaven then. He shook his head softly, before deciding that movement was _not_ a good idea—it just increased the pounding in his head. He blinked the one eye open before daring to try to open both of them. Slowly, both eyes opened, and he took in his surroundings.

He was in a hospital room, that much was certain—and it explained the rather irritating beeping noise. He wasn't up to moving his head yet, but he looked around with his eyes, squinting at the light.

"Ah! Mr. Maxwell! It would appear that you've awakened!" a cheerful nurse said, smiling.

No shit, Duo thought to himself sarcastically, but refrained from saying so out loud. The nurse glanced at Duo's "well duh!" expression and chuckled softly.

"I know. I have a firm grasp of the obvious. Just wanted to let you know that you weren't dreaming," she added, winking. Duo felt a bit mollified at her easy-going demeanor, not to mention the fact that she was wearing rather…unorthodox scrubs.

What _is_ that color? he thought to himself with a bit of unease and a hint of admiration for her guts to wear the color. "Nuclear waste green"? Again noticing his expression, the nurse gave him a rather mischievous grin.

"Like the scrubs? Wanted to make sure the people here noticed I was here today!" she said brightly. Duo found himself grinning back. He even tried to laugh before noticing that laughing only made his ribs hurt. Her smile faded and she informed him that his ribs were bruised—hence why they were hurting, and he suffered several scrapes and burns (the car had somehow caught fire). She then paused and bit her lip.

"Y-you know," he managed to say, shocked to hear his voice sound like he was swallowing glass. "It might d-do you b-better to j-just t-t-_tell_ me what it is…" he finally managed to stutter out. She smiled sadly.

"Brave one, you are." Sighing, she pulled up the stool that was in the room. "As you may have noticed, your speech is a bit stuttered." He gave her another "no shit" expression. She ignored it. "That's because you've gotten some brain trauma, which damaged the area effecting your speech patterns." She quickly held up a hand to stop any exclamations made by the man in bed. "Now, this damage is minor enough that it _is_ able to be fixed. However, it will take a lot of work." She bit her lip again. "Now for the more—permenant injury," she continued. "Your spine also suffered some damage…not enough to paralyze you, though it was close. It will however, cause you to wear a brace for most, if not all the rest of your life." Again, she held up a hand to stave off any questions or exclamations. "This injury doesn't mean that you now are disabled. Far from it! You can still lead a relatively normal lifestyle, with few changes. You just have to be a bit more aware of how your back is feeling, and make sure you don't stress it overly. Over time it should regain most of its strength, but it will still remain much weaker than it was before the accident." Duo's mouth open and closed with no sound emerging. He closed his eyes a moment, trying to digest all the information.

"W-what ab-bout my friends? Are th-they ok-kay?! H-H-_Heero_! D-did he c-c-_come_ th-through alive?!" She smiled at the question.

"I'm pleased to tell you that your friends are doing well," she said, before frowning once again. "Although one of them did suffer some head trauma as well. He was the one next to you in the front of the vehicle." Duo's heart just about stopped. "But he should be waking soon. There didn't appear to be any significant damage beyond that. Just some bruising, cuts, scrapes, etc. The blonde has a hairline collarbone fracture—of all of you, he was the least injured—the male brunette suffered a broken arm and leg, both on his right side." She paused. "I don't know about the other two; they're not on my unit right now. I was told however, that they are find and only suffered moderate to mild injuries." Duo merely blinked. He gestured to his throat, feeling thirsty, his voice tired. The nurse nodded and went to grab him a cup of water from the pitcher by the side of his bed. He nodded his thanks. She smiled in return and made her way to the door.

"I'm going to go and let you get some rest, Mr. Maxwell. I shall be seeing you later today with some lunch." Duo nodded absently, mind still whirling from finding out about his friends. The nurse, noticing the look on his face, decided that she would leave him alone for the time being. She quietly shut the door and walked down the hall. Duo didn't even notice when she had finally departed; he was too absorbed in the thoughts in his mind. Finally, the excitement of the morning proved too much for him, and he drifted back off into oblivion.

oOOo()oOOo

Well…that's all for chapter one…I hope that it's not too horribly angst-y!! I _only_ write happy endings!! Well, ignore my poetry. My _fics_ have happy endings for the most part!!

Cheers!

Rosethorn


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